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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30063996">There are No Do-Overs</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deonara2012/pseuds/Deonara2012'>Deonara2012</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>ATEEZ (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Apocalypse, Dreams and Nightmares, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 17:46:41</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,006</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/30063996</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deonara2012/pseuds/Deonara2012</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>On hiatus due to anxiety, Mingi dreams.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Crack the WIP 2021, Whole New World</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>There are No Do-Overs</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"If you could turn back time, if you could... if you could time travel, would you?" Yunho asked. </p><p>Mingi sucked in a breath, staring at the chaos of his life, what was left of it, anyway. "What do you mean?" he asked, his voice soft, fingers carding through the sand he knelt in as if expecting to find a treasure.</p><p>"I mean, if you could choose differently, if you could go back and change something, would you?"</p><p>"Change what?" Mingi asked, without looking up.</p><p>The problem with this whole conversation was, of course, that Yunho was dead. Mingi hadn't been at the company when the bomb fell, hadn't been anywhere near Seoul when it had nearly gone up in flames. They could still see the orange of the fires reflected on the clouds.</p><p>"Make a different decision."</p><p>"How could <i>I</i> make a different decision that would change this?" He gestured to the destruction in the distance in front of him.</p><p>No one was allowed into Seoul. Every attempt to get in touch with KQ, with any of the members of ATEEZ ended with an electronic voice that intoned "I'm sorry, the circuits are busy. Please try again." He knew they were dead, though, because all of their parents, or most of them, anyway, had called his to tell them that they'd been confirmed dead.</p><p>"You can't," Yunho said, gentle, soft, understanding like his best friend always had been. "You can change your outcome, though. Would you?"</p><p>Would he? </p><p>Mingi thought about that, hands stirring up the sand he sifted through. "I... I might," he said slowly. "But it would have... It would have to be a long time ago."</p><p>"How long?"</p><p>"It would be long before I joined KQ," he said, thinking through all the things he'd done. "It would... I would have to be better at taking care of myself. If... If I hadn't been so anxious about it, if I hadn't hurt my back.... I would have been there for the last comeback. Probably," he had to add in all seriousness, because he didn't know if he’d have that choice again.</p><p>"You think that was it?"</p><p>"I think that's why I didn't ... why I wasn't there when it happened, why I was here." Mingi gasped in a breath again, the thought striking him so hard that it almost hurt. "I want to live with no regrets," he said. "I know a lot of people say that. But if I knew that I would die, with them, with all of this.... I  wouldn't regret it. I would be happy. I would... I would have done better."</p><p>"You think so?"</p><p>"I know I'm regretting everything now," Mingi said. "I don't know if that's... I don't know if that's how it would be. I don't know if that one change would derail my life and I'd end up somewhere else. I hope not. But... I wouldn't know, would I? If I changed it, if I did go down another path?"</p><p>"That's a good question. Of all the times.... no one has ever asked that. The answer is that you wouldn't know. Are you willing to give them up?"</p><p>"Them?" Mingi looked up slowly for the first time in the conversation, and saw not his friend (because of course Yunho's parents had called his first) but someone in a black cloak, face hidden in the shadows. </p><p>"Them. For all I have his voice, you know I'm not him."</p><p>"I know," Mingi said, and looked back down. </p><p>"Are you willing to give them up?"</p><p>A shout drifted across the distance, someone calling his name. Mingi didn't let on that he'd heard. "Would I?"</p><p>"There's the chance, of course."</p><p>Another call, the same voice, familiar, closer. "I... I don't know. I could remember them this way."</p><p>"You could," Yunho said, and then was eerily echoed by Yunho calling his name, sounding distant and far away.</p><p>"What is that?"</p><p>"Nothing to concern yourself with." It didn't sound like Yunho anymore. Mingi wondered if this person actually had ever sounded like Yunho at all. </p><p>"They're calling me."</p><p>"It would be nice, but you know they're dead."</p><p>Mingi frowned when another voice called his name. Seonghwa, this time. "I'm not sure, anymore," Mingi said.</p><p>The cloaked figure stepped closer. "Which is why you need to choose. Would you go back? If it were possible, of course."</p><p>Mingi sighed. "It's not so bad," he said softly. "It was a good life, and I don't think I want to let it go. Even if they're dead, I remember the good times, I remember the friendships, and I don't want...."</p><p>"You don't think?" The figure stepped even closer. "Don't you get tired of being told you're stupid, that you're not good enough?"</p><p>"But the guys, the people that really matter, they never say that," Mingi said, sounding weak even to himself. </p><p>A hand closed on Mingi's shoulder. When he looked at it, though, he could see nothing. It didn't make sense. "Mingi. Wake up."</p><p>With an effort, he opened his eyes, looking up at Yunho, who smiled tremulously at him. "What?" Mingi said, and couldn't move his mouth. He didn’t make a sound.</p><p>"It's good to see you," Yunho said, patting his shoulder, looking so relieved Mingi had to wonder what had happened. "How are you feeling?"</p><p>It took more time than he thought it would to make his mouth work. "I'm confused," he said, lisp stronger than even before he'd trained himself out of it. "What happened?"</p><p>"You had a bad reaction to the anti-anxiety meds they gave you," Yunho said, his hand running down Mingi's arm to grip his hand. Mingi gripped back "It looked like you had a bad dream or something. You... were frowning."</p><p>"Yeah, I guess it was," Mingi said, and closed his eyes. "I'm glad you're here," he said. </p><p>Yunho squeezed his hand. "I'm glad you're here, too," he said softly.</p><p>Mingi dropped off to sleep, the words ringing in his ears, thoughts clear. <i>I don't want to change anything.</i></p>
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